


Down A Dark Hall

by Purpledragon6



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Omi tries understanding, a take on Chase and Omi's backstories, and how they're connected
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 08:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20022097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpledragon6/pseuds/Purpledragon6
Summary: The past of two kindred spirits are finally revealed, but the further down their stories go, the more they find that maybe some things should be left in the past.





	1. Chapter 1

** _A/N: Chapter Summary: A new, seemingly useless wu is revealed._ **

* * *

**General POV:**

_"Its called the Inner Darkness. When this wu is activated, it will reveal to its possessor's the deepest regret of their enemy-_

"Deepest Regrets?" The Dragon of the Wind repeated, this time in the form of a question. "I don't see how that's very useful."

A typical briefing of a new Wu never lasted long- typically. Usually the name and a brief description was read from the scroll, followed by a brief image of said object in action and all questions were saved until the end. However, this particular briefing was cut off rather quickly, by a curious monk raising his hand to halt Dojo from speaking any more.

"Meh, you can mentally torment someone with it." Dojo replied as he closed the scroll. "Or something along those lines."

"Don't we already have a Wu that does that?" Kimiko asked, sounding as unimpressed as Raimundo. "Shows someone's greatest fears and-"

"R-e-g-r-e-t-s." Dojo spelled. "Geez, do I have to spell it out for you?"

"You kinda already did." Clay pointed out.

"Why does it even matter? All wus are useful in some way or another." Dojo sighed. "Why are you kids so iffy about this one?"

"We're not iffy, just curious." Rai muttered, his eyes rolling up to the heavens. "I still say we already have one that does the same thing."

Dojo was clearly on his last nerve, not that he had that many to begin with when a briefing was interrupted. This was further made evident in the way he suddenly closed the scroll he had been reading and slammed his head into, successfully regaining the monk's attention.

"I don't know what part of me thought that was a good idea, cause that really hurt." He mumbled, then straightened out. "Bottom line is: No, we don't have a Wu like this, and yes, this Wu is very useful."

"If that is true then we mustn't dally dilly." Omi piped up, suddenly very interested.

"Thats "Dilly Dally", and there's no need for us to go anywhere to find this one." Dojo said, sounding a bit proud of himself.

He slithered away to a potted plant that appeared out of nowhere, next to the door. The dragon then turned to the kids again and smiled widely. Suddenly, he reached into the dirt and dug around a bit and then withdrew what looked like a glass heart with black smoke swarming around the inside of it. Despite the unanimous idea within the group, that this object had no real purpose, the four of them still Oooed when they saw it.

"Woah, how did you get that!" Raimundo exclaimed, more surprised at the thought of the dragon competing in a Showdown than with the Wu itself.

The dragon smiled proudly, a glint appearing in his dark eyes as he then tossed the heart up in the air and then skillfully caught it in the opposite hand.

"Dashi and I hid this baby back about 900 years ago, give or take... I forget why though. Something about the Heylin or whatever." Dojo shrugged then looked over the glass. "Wonder if this thing still works..."

"Give it a try." Kimiko shrugged. "What harm can it do?"

"Inner Darkness." Dojo mumbled as he held up the heart to Kimiko.

The smoke cleared and reviled a young Kimiko, who had taken her brand new doll to a friend's house when the friend's little brothers were home. He couldn't help but snicker as he shifted the heart over to Raimundo. An image of evil Omi suddenly came into view. A sigh and then the heart was shifted to Clay, the image was of Jessie leaving the farm. The kids gave him a confused look as he then pointed the heart at the youngest member of the group, whose deepest regret was eating expired yogurt.

"Hehe, I remember that day." He snickered, but then looked up and saw the annoyed looks on everyone's faces. "Uh I mean, yeah you guys are right, this thing is pretty useless."

And with that, he turned around and tossed the Wu over his shoulder. Watching it clatter to the ground, he waited for the reverse psychology to work its magic and get the monks interested. However, when no one made a move to retrieve the fallen glass, the dragon huffed and then slithered away. Once Dojo left the room, Clay stepped forward and picked the glass heart up gingerly. He looked Inner Darkness over a few times, silently forming an opinion of it.

"Maybe its not entirely useless, it make a good paper weight." He mused, tossing it gently over to an alert Raimundo, who caught it but passed it to Kimiko.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do with it?" He called after his blonde friend. "Find out the Heylin's deepest regrets? They're evil, they don't regret anything."

Kimiko looked it over, just as Clay had done earlier, then handed it to Omi and left the room with the others, as Rai had taken the words right out of her mouth. Omi however, didn't toss the Wu or put it back where they found it. He just held it in his hands, staring down at it.

"Not all of them are evil." He mumbled knowingly to himself.

A thought suddenly struck the young boy as he glanced out his window and in the direction of a far away place. After this, he put the heart back in its original hiding place and sighed as he returned to his room for the night.

* * *

**Omi's POV:**

It was a nagging question though. Nagging and unimportant as far as an answer went but an interesting question non the less. Nope, just a nag, just unimportant. That's it. Not interesting at all. Then again, the more it nags the more interested you become in finding an answer.

_But what good would it do? Knowing it? Nothing. It wouldn't do any good. But then again, it wouldn't do an ounce of harm either. Well, other then maybe that mental torture Dojo when on about earlier. Which that fact lead to another interesting question. How could you mentally torture someone with their deepest regrets?_

After much thought this question was given an answer.

"A painful reminder perhaps." Omi said aloud as he stood on his head, as was his custom for either sleep or deep thought, which normally one lead to the other but not tonight. "A reminder of what though..."

"Hey kiddo, talking to yourself again?" Dojo's voice interrupted the child's thoughts all while scaring him half to death. "Jeez kid, sorry for scaring you that badly."

"Its alright Dojo, I was just thinking." Omi muttered as he rolled onto his back and slowly stood up.

"Must've been thinking pretty hard." The green lizard responded, slithering a bit closer to the boy. 

"Oh but I was." Omi said, shaking his head a bit. "Or at least trying to."

"About what?" Dojo asked, "Talk to me. Whats up?"

"Um... Do you remember Inner Darkness?" Omi began slowly.

"How could I forget? Seriously, how could I? I showed it to you all like ten minutes ago." Dojo answered bluntly. "But thats besides the point. What about it?"

"It shows ones deepest regrets correct?"

"I spelled it out for you kid. All of this I already know." Dojo sounded a bit annoyed by this. "Cut to the chase kid, what are you talking about?"

"Actually, funny you should mention ch-." Omi began but was cut off when the dragon's face paled.

"No one on the Heylin side has regrets Omi... Thats one of the very things they actually let go of when they turn to the dark side!" Dojo spat out quickly, his voice a little to fast for the boy's liking. "AND hopefully that puts an end to whatever it was you were thinking about."

Dojo turned away from the boy and was about to slither away when he stopped.

"Where is Inner Darkness anyway?" He asked slowly.

"Back in the vault." Omi answered, sounding a bit disappointed, but this seemed like a good thing to the dragon.

Quickly he sped out of the room and in the direction of the vault, leaving Omi in his room with... A randomly placed potted plant. The child smirked, crossed over to the plant and pulled out a glass heart full of black smoke.

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

Dojo grunted in displeasure as he face-palmed, face-walled, and then face-drawered. Three acts that caused him a lot of pain and made him question why he would even do such a thing. Thats when his head trauma finally began to ease and he remembered why he has been so annoyed.

"Of course it wouldn't be in the vault. None of the kids took it seriously except." He paused, closed the empty drawer, slowly slunk up the stairs, and then sped as quick as he could back in which he came. Another grunt of displeasure when he approached the room and found it was also as empty as the drawer in the vault. All except for a potted plant.

"How could I miss that!?" He scolded himself out loud, rousing the attention of the other warriors.

"Hey Dojo, whats wrong? And wheres Omi?" Kimiko asked upon entering the room with her male friends close behind. "Where did this potted plant come from?"

The dragon muttered something quietly and then face-palmed again.


	2. Try to Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omi pays a visit to a trusted enemy, whose less than thrilled to see him.

** _A/N: Introducing, an old friend._ **

* * *

**Omi's POV: **

At times, Omi felt he was cunning, capable, and quiet. At other times, such as now, he felt doubt in his abilities. It would only take one false move from him to be discovered by Chase Young, whose home the little monk currently found himself in. Just one misstep and this whole trip would have been for nothing. If Omi planned on doing anything (and he did), he would have to execute it fast and flawlessly right this very second and leave just as quickly as he came.

_'This moment or not...' _He thought, before taking a quiet breath in through his nose and muttering, "Inner Darkness..."

* * *

** _Years ago..._ **

_The smoke began to take shape, forming into the face of a young woman. _

_She sat proudly in front of a golden vanity. A lock of long ,black hair was brushed back by a brown lotus comb. Sparkling blue eyes looked up into the reflective surface of the mirror and began to study the face that stared back. In her focus on brushing her hair, she drew her bottom lip in unknowingly. Suddenly, her eyes shifted to look up at a new figure, caught in the mirror's reflection along with her own. Instantly, she seemed to know exactly who this person was, and exactly what his intentions were._

_"Judging me again, Chase? Are you?" The woman suddenly piped up, turning slowly face her friend, "You could've just told me you were coming in."_

_The person in question was a male, just a few years older than the girl. With their matching raven hair, one would assume that they were siblings, if it weren't for the contrasting colors between their skin and eyes. One with a slight yellowish tinge to it and hazel eyes, and the other with blue eyes and pale skin. Another difference was their smiles, because while the female held a light grin, her male companion kept a stern expression._

_"You shouldn't be biting, Sunnu." He commented, "And you'll never sharpen your instincts if you allow yourself to become distracted... Or by having me announce myself."_

_"Thats your concern?" The female, now dubbed Sunnu, asked as she rose suddenly from her chair. "My well being over yours?"_

_She crossed the room, over to Chase's side. She looked up at him before poking him with her slim finger. He didn't react much, except for a ghost of a smile dusting over his own lips as he lightly batted her hand away from him. A brief yet friendly gesture between the pair. Though, despite the friendly visit, the woman still let out a heavy sigh of annoyance before speaking up again. _

_"I should tell my brother that you've been spying on me again." She teased, good heartedly. "He and Dashi have been talking about that, you know?"_

_"What do they say?" He really didn't sound interested in this, more so just as annoyed as Sunnu was._

_"I'll get back to you on that one." The girl said quickly as she went to leave the room, only to be stopped when a hand grabbed at her braided hair loop,_

_Her eyes shifted just a bit to look over to her friend, and found that he was now holding her in place. Sunnu frowned, and took a few steps back into the room. He still didn't seem interested in what she was keeping from him, but it was obvious that this conversation wasn't over yet._

_"You know I love you, idiot." It wasn't a question, rather a blunt statement._

_"Of course." Sunnu said in an equally blunt voice, trying to free her hair again as carefully as she could, before finally giving up and dropping her arms to the side. "Why remind me?"_

_"Just in case." The rope of black was released finally, setting the other free as Sunnu finally turned fully around, a confused look etched on her face._

_"I don't understand."_

* * *

"Neither do I." Omi whispered, looking down at the glass heart in his hands one last time before tucking it back into his sleeve for the time being. "How could a little girl be the cause of any regret?"

The yellow child shook his head and peered out of a hole in his hiding place (where he had been since he first arrived in this place, just an hour ago actually) as looked back at the immortal man he had been looking at for the past few minutes. In that time, neither of them really moved much for some reason during this time, though Omi had a sinking suspicion on why that may have been.

"I have a front door, you know?" Suspicion confirmed.

"I was aware." Omi muttered, standing up slowly from his spot. "I didn't think I was welcome though..."

"You're not." A snap sounded shortly after, and the younger male found himself surrounded by an small group of cat like humans, all wearing different masks.

"Well, as Raimundo would say, this heightened quickly." Omi muttered, raising his hands slowly to his face in a defensive way, his trembling hand shaking a violent matter.

One of the members of the group stepped boldly forward and swatted at the boy, not causing any harm, but instead aiming for the object located in his pocket sleeve. It tumbled out onto the floor, not shattering despite its building material. This object caught the attention of all of those present, specifically the oldest one in the room.

"Where did you get that?" It was a calm question, but something else was lining his tone.

"It was hidden by master Dashi and Dojo." Omi began, not really answering the question as he looked up slowly, silently asking his own questions as he spoke, trying to search for a way to word them into the same question or statement all at once until he finally found the perfect way.

"For a reason I don't understand..."

Ice coloured walls and freely growing vines seemed out of place in the room that now contained such a tense atmosphere. The younger monk felt as though it would eventually crush and kill him. Regardless of this, he remained quiet and respectfully standing in the home of who was supposed to be his enemy. They had been in this quiet standoff for what felt like hours, but in the back of Omi's mind, he knew that it had only been mere minutes. 

Curious eyes finally shifting over, Omi's gaze soon landed on the older male, who was now sitting beside him. The glass heart slowly being flipping around in his hands as he silently examined it. The action was a curious one to Omi, but he didn't bother to ask about it. Instead he just simply went back to standing and waiting for an answer.

Hopefully that wouldn't be much longer, as the flipping suddenly stopped and the glass heart was offered back to Omi.

"How much did it show you?" Chase asked, not once looking up at the child.

"Enough," Omi replied, slowly taking the glass back with both hands before tucking it safely away in his sleeve.

"You know that doesn't answer my question." A roll of the eyes followed this.

_'Since it's your regrets, then you should know what it showed me.'_ Omi thought, knowing that saying this comment out loud would probably have been a fatal error on his end, if not the last thing he would ever say. "There was a little girl ther-"

"Sunnu."

"Sunnu." Omi repeated as a way of correcting himself, "Sunnu was in the glass, and you were with her."

Omi stopped, feeling as though he had said enough. The question was answered, and the rest of the fill in the blanks could be figured out by either one of them. With that, he retreated back to his silence, but not for as long as the last time.

"She was 16." Chase muttered suddenly, sounding a mix of annoyed and something else as he spoke.

"Is that important?" Omi asked, frowning.

"Stop calling her a little girl." Chase replied bluntly, the earlier annoyance showing through just a little more.

"So you heard me the first time?" Omi blushed lightly at this thought, mentally face palming at his inability to whisper.

"Yes." That much had been obvious.

"She really seemed younger than that..." Omi muttered, but soon realized that this banter was drawing them away from the true concern at hand. "Was she a monk?"

This could be a trick question, as even Omi knew that there were very few female monks as of now. And in ancient times, it was almost unheard of that a woman would be a fighter. He hardly counted Wuya in this though, as the rules seemed to bend quite a bit when it came to the women of Heylin. Still, the question was out there now and he was curious to know. However, when Omi finally looked over at the other, he found that the older man had gone very still and that his eyes were closed now. The expression on his face was completely unreadable, as it usually was.

"No." This response was again, blunt.

"I don't understand. Then wh-" Omi was cut off, this time by Chase suddenly taking back the glass heart from Omi's sleeve, only to place it onto Omi's hands just as quick. "Wha-"

In an instance, Omi realized that this must have been a silent way of saying that he now had the other's permission to use the heart again. Maybe to see the whole thing through this time. Nodding, Omi slowly held up the glass heart and muttered the two simple words that activated the device.

Sunnu soon appeared slowly in a mist of fog, only this time the smoke was white, and she seemed a touch older then she had before. She was laying on her right side now, in an unknown location, and her blue eyes were closed now.

'Shes sleeping?' Omi thought, looking a little deeper into the glass just as the fog began to shift from white to grey.

Dashi soon entered the clearing within the glass, slowly approaching Sunnu where she seemingly slept, and kneeling before her. He seemed calm, but also saddened by something as he reached out and began lightly touched her thin shoulder. The young woman didn't stirr from the touch, but her limp laying form rolled slowly to her back, but it seemed more like she had not been the one to move herself. From this new angle, her bright smile was still clear across her pale skin, which was almost bone white in this image. By now, the fog had blackened and now covered Dashi's image and enough of Sunnu's body that only her head could be seen. From this close, a small trickle of red could be seen from her ear.

"I don't understand." Omi muttered, though he never once looked away. "Wh-"

The moment his words died in his throat, the smokey fog began to thin out, revealing that the red extended passed Sunnu's ear. It thickened down her jaw, becoming a thick line as it dipped down her throat and ending in a pool of deep red around the place where her heart would be. Across the way, two swords lay near her in an X pattern. One was clean and still shining, and the other was dulled and... Stained with red.

Just by holding the glass, Omi felt dread and panic wash over him, realizing now that Sunnu had not been sleeping as he had once thought. She was dead, and the moment that settled in he just wanted to look away, at the same time that he didn't want to leave Sunnu alone in the glass heart. Shaking hands decided for him one to do, as the heart suddenly fell from his hands and onto the floor, the image shattering into nothingness before it had a chance to hit the ground. It was a relief that the image was gone, but now reality was back, and that was twice as horrible knowing what he did now.


	3. Hope to Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the smoke clears, the questions continue.

**A/N: The thing about regret, is that its a wound that cuts deep and never heals when its disturbed.**

* * *

**Omi's POV:**

Omi never realized just how loud breathing can be until the moment his world went dead quiet. For him, the sound of his own rapid breathing was deafening, and the atmosphere around him was suffocating. In short, he felt like he may die in this room, with his possibly former ally beside him. Not how he pictured himself going, but then again, he never expected any of his current situation either.

"S-she was killed?" Omi breathed out finally, eyes casting down towards the glass heart, throat tightening up as he spoke.

His whole being felt like it was on fire, with a sudden dryness stinging his throat and large tears printing his eyes. In all his 7 years of life, he had seen death from age, and knew the risk of dying during a showdown, but he found that all that still didn't numb him. Especially in a case such as the murder of someone who had walked the same, once safe halls that he did...

"You sound surprised." Chase muttered, looking from the heart to Omi. "She was a resident of your temple.. I had assumed your dragon would've mentioned her at some point."

"No, he didn't..." Omi sighed, still trying to remember how to breathe correctly.

It was with that that the young monk was finally able to tear his gaze away from the heart and look up at the Heylin man, who for once seemed at a type of unease. What from, Omi could only guess. And he had a feeling that any of his guesses would be able to serve as the truth.

"Did yo-"

"No."

Well, it was just a feeling, after all...

"I have honestly never heard of her. I don't know what to ask-" Omi paused, finding that not only did he not know what to ask, but he also has no idea what to DO at this point.

Would it be wrong to just start running now? Or ask for a rundown?

No, that seemed a little on the 'wrong' side. Still, he wanted answers.

"Who was she?" He bit out finally. "If she was this important, then why hasn't-"

"I never said she was important." Chase corrected. "But she was a friend..."

"You never said she WASN'T important." Omi justified, frowning a little. "If she wasn't important and was just your friend, then why wonder why no one mentioned her at the temple?"

"She lived there, and she wasn't just my friend. She was a friend to everyone at the temple."

"That doesn't mean she should be remembered." Omi sighed.

"And yet you and your friends should be?" For once, Chase smirked a little from what actually looked to be sheer amusement.

"Well, yes! We are Xiaolin monks, and-" He paused, taking the other's smirk as a sign that he had walked right into something.

"You weren't the only ones." And there is was. "There were elemental dragons before you."

"I understand that-" Omi stopped once again, squinting up at the other curiously. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

"There's always been four elemental dragon's, Omi." Okay, so that seemed to take the conversation nowhere.

"I understand-"

"But there hasn't always been a society." Chase went on, ignoring Omi's interruption. "You seemed to think it was strange earlier, to think that there was a female monk almost 1500 years ago."

Omi went silent, taking a moment to process what spotted information he had been given. Of course, he knew that there had always been dragons, but what that had to do with society and things were done-

"She was an elemental dragon, but wasn't allowed to be a monk?" Omi guessed out loud. "Why didn't you just tell me that instead of being so passive intolerant about things!? Now I feel like I know even LESS about her!"

"Passive aggressive. And I did it that way because I always saw her differently than everyone else, and there are certain things I would never say about her out of respect." Chase mused, any earlier unease seemingly melt away into amusement over the little monk's reactions. "I'm giving you the chance to form your own opinion over her as your predecessor, little one."

...

"SHE WAS THE DRAGON OF WATER!? MY PREDECESSOR WAS A GIRL!?" Omi exclaimed, his eyes going wide in both shock and slight horror.

"Give or take a few generations, but yes."

"Please tell me her death was honorable at the very least..." This may have sounded cruel, but Omi was very tired.

"No."

And just like that, the whole world went silent again. Omi took a moment to regain his composure, quickly figuring that any hasty question would once again be answered by a well thought out statement that he was too frazzled to really pick through properly to understand it. Instead, he took that time to gather what he could from their talk.

"Your version of the story is different than others..." Omi figured, earning a nod from the other. "Any version could alter my own opinion."

"Yes. That would be correct."

"And I should form my own opinion by finding out for myself who Sunnu was!" Omi announced, gathering up the glass heart and taking off for the nearest exit.

If he had stayed long enough, he would have seen the other's amused face drop almost instantly, and was instead replaced by a look of stress and what could only be described as a possible physical or physiological pain.

* * *

**Back at the Temple:**

Omi found himself once again sneaking into the vault for the second time that night. The first being from his own guilt about lying to Dojo about putting the Inner Darkness Wu in the vault (so he stopped by so it wouldn't be a total lie) and the second being for what he was starting to believe was one of his craziest, but still more brilliant ideas. Quietly, he tugged open one very specific drawer, it's cold surface burning his fingers. Inside was the Time Turner wu, and he anxiously, albeit quietly and quickly, removed it from its drawer and closed it the same way. Taking a deep breath, he looked down at the Wu and felt a small smile tug at his face.


End file.
